Apple Plans On Hiring Reduction Amid Weak iPhones Sales

As Bloomberg reports on Wednesday, as a result of weak iPhone sales, Apple is planning on slowing down the hiring pace for some of its divisions in the company.

During a meeting with the employees which happened at the beginning of this month, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that some divisions would experience slowdown instead of a complete hiring freeze, cited anonymous sources.

The CEO of Apple has not decided on which groups would see a reduction in hiring.

The comments were made during a meeting with Apple’s employees and stakeholders one day after the company’s announcement that its holiday sales did not meet its expectations. The Cupertino giant claimed that the slowing economy of China and the unexpected weaker smartphone demand are two leading causes for the decrease in iPhone sales.

He did mention in the meeting that the hiring of areas like artificial intelligence (AI) will still remain at a steady pace. Office opening plans in Los Angeles and Austin will still be carried out. Cook emphasized that the future of Apple is not evaluated by such hiring rates.

In his note to his employees, Cook wrote, “this moment gives us an opportunity to learn and to take action." Also, the senior vice presidents also emphasized in the meeting that the decrease in iPhone sales is a good chance for coming up with new innovations.

Distinguishing the difference between a hiring slowdown and layoffs is essential. As of Sept 29, 132,000 employees were working full time at Apple, which includes those at its headquarters and various offices. Staff who works at retail stores of the company around the globe were also counted.

When asking for a comment on this plan, the tech giant has not made any response yet.

Besides hiring cutdown, the company is reportedly planning to expand services such as Apple Music to third-parties: